4.5 Entrepreneurial Diversity
What can we learn about entrepreneurship within a learning organization? First, we can learn that in order to be driven towards a cause, we must also be driven towards making a change. When we talk about diversity paired with an entrepreneurial spirit, we look beyond the physical aspects of race, gender, and physical makeup, rather reflect a deeper meaning of race, gender and physical makeup. When looking at entrepreneurial diversity we look at the experiential and emotional factors that make up that drive and passion towards a venture. Studies in Germany and the United Kingdom reflect that different experiences within cultural diversity have a positive impact on with technological innovative startups [14], and that experiential knowledge over time evolves throughout the course of work [15]. What this says is that different experiences produce a positive impact on entrepreneurial learning within organizations, embracing the stories and lenses of a different worldview.
If we look at female entrepreneurs, we find through a study in Slovenia that females bring a different lens of experience to the entrepreneurial space, implicating a need to bridge the divide of a gender gap with work experience [16]. Reflecting the concepts of different experiences from men and women as an example reflects that work still needs to be done to bridge these divides as a lesson in understanding past experiences with the different genders towards a greater understanding.
Leaders and managers within learning organizations may create a precedence to introduce diverse aspects within their entrepreneurial studies. With a new generation of learners and entrepreneurial spirits, introduction of student-led, and experiential-led entrepreneurship clubs will help embrace their entrepreneurial spirit. Pittaway, Rodriguez-Falcon, Aiyegbago, and King conclude student-led learning groups enhance the motivation and drive towards entrepreneurial learning embracing a deep entrepreneurial spirit [17]. When we structure the learning around the students for them to guide their learning, we can create the diverse entrepreneurial atmosphere we strive towards with entrepreneurial diversity.
